Awaken to Dust (An Awakening retelling)
by LoreofSquirrels
Summary: A man is found unconscious in a field with no memory of who he is, or where he came from. The only hint he has of his past is a faint dream of a battle with a dark skinned man, and a voice that echoes through his mind. Will he discover his past, or will he find something new to strive for? And if he does find something new, will his past return to threaten him and his friends?
1. Chapter 1

Awaken to Dust (A Fire Emblem: Awakening retelling)

(Note. I basically started writing this on a whim. I'm not sure how often I will be working on this, or exactly how many chapters I will be doing. Just letting you guys know to not expect annual updates is all. There will also be character deaths in this. There won't be very many, and they will be relatively spread out. Again. Just letting you guys know. Moving on...)

CH1: Awaken to the Past

In a decrepit temple a large cloaked figure rose from the ground where it had been laying, the figure's hood fell back from his head revealing a man who appeared to be in his late thirties. He had sharp mature features with calm brown eyes and black hair that had once gone down to his shoulders, but had been pulled back into a simple ponytail. He stood at somewhere around seven feet tall, and seemed to tower over everything around him.

He also had a slightly faded scar running from the top right of his forehead, down across the bridge of his nose, and to the left side of his lip. His tattered and worn purple coat with strange symbols along the back and sleeves was worn over a suit of spectacular steel armor was covered in a strange black substance that clung to him.

He stumbled to his feet, struggling to keep his balance as a splitting pain rang through his head. As he stumbled around he could hear a dark voice echo through his thoughts. "You are my vessel!", "All you have done has been my will!" The pain soon seemed to spread throughout his whole body and the voice's echo became almost deafening. It was so great that he barely heard the panicked "Move!" from somewhere to his left.

He turned to look just as a he saw a massive ball of black energy heading towards him at a frighteningly fast speed. Without time to think the man jumped to his left, out of the way of the black mass, and looked to see where it came from.

Across the room, near a large pillar, stood a dark skinned man, he was at least a foot taller than even the scarred man, a demented smile was visible even from across the room. He was dressed in a long dark robe adorned with jewels, precious metals, and similar marking as those that adorned on the coat of the man with the scar wore.

His viscious black eyes and dark slicked back hair along with his robes gave him an intimidating prescence, the tome in his hands that seemed to seep out a similar substance as was stuck to the scarred man's coat and armor.

The scared man and the dark haired man's eyes narrowed as they stared each other down a sense of hatred was palpable between the two. Quickly the scarred man brushed the left side of his coat aside and reached towards a tome shaped holster on his hip only to realize that whatever he had stored there was not there any longer.

"Damn!" He shouted in anger. The dark skinned man simply cackled and sent another large mass of darkness towards the scarred man, but before it could connect with him the ball was cut in half and the two halves split into seperate direction, smashing into walls.

The dark skinned man growled as he saw a princely looking man standing between him and the scarred man. He had wore a blue suit underneath an armored suit of silver that shined brilliantly even in the darkness of the temple. He had dark blue hair and light blue eyes that exuded a sense of competence and strength. His suit and armor covered most of his body except for his right arm, which revealed a strange birthmark shaped like some sort of symbol.

He wielded a beautiful gleaming sword that seemed sharp enough to cut a mountain in half in his hand. It too shined brilliantly despite it's dark surroundings.

"Nice try!" The princely looking man shouted to the dark skinned man. "You'll have to do better than that to stop us!" He shouted as he raised the blade in preparation for a charge.

The scarred man ran up behind the princely looking man, they gave each other a look of assurance, the scarred man brushed the right side of his coat aside, unsheathed a silver sword, and the two men charged at the dark skinned man with a furious battle cry.

The princely man was the first to reach the dark skinned man, his broad slash at the dark skinned man's chest was stopped by a black shield that had been conjured from the dark skinned man's tome. The princely man was then knocked back by a blast of energy and fell backwards over a collapsed pillar of stone.

The scarred man had manuevered to the dark skinned man's side and lunged at him with his sword held high and ready for cleave down on his target. The swing connected with the shoulder, but only managed to crack several jewels on the shoulder plates. The dark skinned man turned and attempted to knock the scarred man away as he had done with the other man before, but he anticipated it and feinted to the left, avoiding the blast and allowing him to land a direct hit on one of the dark skinned man's legs.

The dark skinned man screamed in pain and conjured a black ethereal sword from the tome. The scarred man could barely avoid the attacks from the blade, it moved with an unatural precision and speed. The blade managed to connect with the man's shoulder, knocking him down but not inflicting any real damage.

As he stumbled to his feet he saw the dark skinned man raise the blade into the air and bring it in a downwards strike to the scarred man's head. The scarred man quickly put his sword out above him and blocked the strike, but the dark skinned man repeated the attack over and over again with steadily increasing speed and force until finally cleaving the silver sword in half and sending the scarred man crashing to the floor with a grave wound to his chest.

The scarred man struggled to climb to his feet, but the pain of his wound kept him from doing so. He looked up at the dark skinned man as he cackled and raised his sword up for a finishing strike. He wanted to say something, a final insult to the man in front of him, but he couldn't find the strength to.

"Ah. Have you no final words? No curse to leave upon me? Hah! I expected more." The dark skinned man said mockingly and with a cruel look in his eyes.

The scarred man simple stared at him in disgust before noticing movement behind the dark skinned man and grinning. "Actually I do have one thing to say. DO IT NOW!" He shouted. The dark skinned man stared at him in confussion for a moment before remembering the princely man. He turned just as the princely man brought his sword down, severing one of the dark skinned man's fingers and destroying the ethereal sword.

The princely man landed behind the dark skinned man as he shrieked in pain and helped the scarred man to his feet. "Can you still fight?" The scarred man was out of breath and did not respond. "Alexander!" The princely man said with a hint of fear in his voice. "Can you fight?"

The scarred man looked at the princely man exasperatedly for a few seconds before responding, "Yeah... Yeah. I can fight, Chrom." he said with a reassuring grin.

The princely man grinned and patted him on the shoulder, but was then sent flying across the room by a blast of energy from the dark skinned man's tome. "CHROM!" The scarred man yelled as the princely man collided with a far wall. He turned to face the dark skinned man and charged him, but was sent flying into a nearby pillar by another blast.

"So pathetic! I will deal with you after I have dealt with the little prince." The dark skinned man's pained voice bellowed throughout the room as he moved towards the princely man.

The scarred man barely managed rise to his feet and prop himself against the pillar. He stared at the dark skinned man as he moved towards the unconscious princely man and knew that charging him again would accomplish nothing. He looked around for something to use and spotted a tome with an intricate yellow pattern on it's cover laying on the ground near a scarlet haired woman wearing long robes and a pointed hat.

She was lying motionless in a pool of blood. The scarred man stared at the body with a guilt wracked expression on his face for a few moments before grabbing the tome and opening it towards the dark skinned man. "HEY!" He shouted across the room.

The dark skinned man turned with a grunt of annoyance, "Do you still struggl-" he was cut off by a thunder bolt flew past his face. He looked to where the bolt impacted on the bolt impacted on the wall and then looked across the room at the scarred man who was readying another bolt. "Insulant fool!" He shout as he opened his tome and sent more massive ball of black energy towards the scarred man.

The two were stuck in a pitched battle, the scarred man's bolts intercepted each of the black energy balls and caused them to explode in mid-air. The dark skinned man repeatedly attempted new spells from the tome, conjuring pools of black goo to trap the him, black hands to crush pillars and bring down sections of the temple on him, but none of it worked. The scarred man, injured as he was, was still able enough to expertly evade each of these attacks.

The battle continued for several minutes with bolts and dark magic clashing ad bringing down sections of the building, a thick dust had filled the air limiting the sight of the two men. By the time the princely man awoke and saw through the dust, he realized that the scarred man was fast running out of pages in his tome.

He rose from the ground and grasped the hilt of his sword in his hands. He charged up behind the dark skinned man and landed a devistating strike, cutting through his back and breaking several bones.

The dark skinned man fell to the ground, rolling around in anguish, but before the princely man could strike him again, he grabbed the tome and cast another ethereal sword to fight off the princely man as he rose back to his feet. The princely man managed to deflect the sword and stab his blade straight through the dark skinned man's shoulder.

The dark skinned man screamed in agony as his arm went limp, and swatted the princely man away with his other hand. The princely man tumbled backwards, but the sword had sliped out of his hand and was still embedded in the dark skinned man's shoulder. The dark skinned man grabbed the hlt of the sword, and removed it with a deafening howling noise before throwing it aside. "I will not be defeated by you, welp!" The dark skinned man shouted at the princely man. "No. That would be my job!"

The dakr skinned man turned quickly to where the scarred man's voice came, but only in time to see the man jump towards him, tome opened and charged for attack, and then a bolt formed in the man's hand that he pushed directly into the dark tome.

Time seemed to stop for a moment, the scarred man's hand on the dark tome glowing with the power of the thunder bolt, the dark skinned man's horrified wide eyed expression. And then there was an explosion of energy, both the scarred man and the dark skinned man were thrown across the room from the force of it and both of their tomes crumbled to ash.

The princely man ran to the scarred man and knelt down next to him. "Are you okay?" He asked, concern writen clearly on his face.

The scarred man raised his head, looked at the princely man, and then at the body of the dark skinned man across the room and simply said, "I could go for something to eat." The princely man chuckled and helped him to his feet. He looked back at the dark skinned man laying motionless on the ground and turned back to the scarred man, "It's over. He's dead." a gentle smile formed on his mouth. "Thanks to you we carried the day. We can finally rest. At long last we can finally-"

The voice of the dark skinned man rang across the room, "This isn't over..." both the princely man and the scarred man looked in horror as a dark surge of energy engulfed the dark skinned man's body and levitated him into the air. "DAMN YOU BOTH!" The dark skinned man shrieked as a large bolt of dark energy shot out of his chest and twoards the other two men.

The scarred man shoved the princely man out of the way of the just in time, but the bolt struck him directly in the chest, sending a surge of pain and dark energy through his body and bringing him to his knees as he screamed in pain.

The princely man rushed back to the scarred man who was still screaming, "Hold on Alex!" he said holding the scarred man's shoulders to try and see where the pain was coming from. He saw that black blood was seeping from the area where the bolt had landed.

The scarred man stopped screaming and stared the princely man in the eyes. The princely man stared back and saw a strange look in the scarred man's eyes, something that he had never seen before from them, helplessness. "What's wrong?" The scarred slowly raised his hand towards the princely man as his breathing quickened and he attempted to say something.

"Hey! Hang on! The other will- Grrk!" The princely man rose to his feet and stumbled backwards, a bolt of energy had impaled his abdomen and his eyes were full of terror as the scarred man stared in shock at what he had just done. His mouth opened but he could not find the strength to speak.

"Don't blame yourself..." The princely man said as he stared down at the bolt and then at the scarred man, a look of regret and finality in his eyes. "It isn't your fault... Please... go!" He said before his sword fell from his hands, causing an almost deafening clang as it hit the stone, and the princely man collapsed foreward onto the floor, dead.

The scarred man could do nothing but stand and stare at the body, tears in his eyes, as the demented cackling of the dark skinned man rang echoed through his thoughts. "Your destiny is complete! Just as was foreseen!"

End of CH1.


	2. Chapter 2(Fixed a few typos)

CH2: Awaken to a New Destiny

(Got up today and felt like writing some more of this. Enjoy)

Somewhere near a verdant forest sat a girl on a bridge. She had grey eyes, beautiful golden hair that had been done up in pig tails, and a small stature that, along with her almost childish feature, gave off an almost magically enchanting ere. She wore a lovely gold and white dress with a brown corset around her midriff and some sort of white cap on her head. (Author's note: I honestly have no idea what the hell it is. I tried looking the name up for hours and found nothing.)

The girl was staring at a river where four baby otters were playing. She giggled as they chased each other in circles in the water and swam in little formations. It was almost as if they knew she was there and were putting on a show for her, which she liked the idea of. She had been walking for almost three days now and she was tired and her feet were sore, not helped by the fact that the shoes she had brought with her were mostly only good for walking around the capital and not in woods and on long roads.

One of the otters began swimming in a tight circle and the other three followed, the girl smiled as they jumped in and out of the water and started chasing each other again. She stretched her arms and leaned against the railing of the bridge with a contented yawn. "This would be a good place for a nap..." She said to herself as she felt her eyes grow tired and eventually close as she let her head rest against the railing.

"Milady!" A deep and strict sounding voice called to the girl. The girl jolted awake and looked to the road on her right to see two men and a horse walking down the road towards her. They were her brother, Chrom, and a friend of theirs, Sir Fredrick, who was a knight assigned to escort them on their journey. The horse belonged to Frederick, it's name was Valiance. Both Frederick and Valiance wore exquisitely made steel armor. Neither of them appeared to be even slightly impaired by the weight of it all, which only reinforced their reputation for unnatural stamina and strength.

The girl let her head fall back against the railing with a loud thud. "Do I have to get up?" She asked without looking at the either of them.

"If we wish to arrive at the capital on time, then yes milady." Frederick said with his usual formal tone. "I do regret that it is cutting into your allotted time for sitting around doing nothing." He continued with a note of sarcasm.

"Hey, what's wrong with doing nothing?" She said with her trade mark mopey expression as she stood up.

"It is unproductive." Fredrick replied as he and Chrom approached the bridge.

"Yeah. Well at least it's still fun. You do know what fun is, right?" The girl asked playfully as she stuck out her tongue at Fredrick.

"Why, yes I do, and it does not involve wasting one's day away on a bridge." Frederick said sternly.

"That's enough." Chrom interrupted, with a friendly expression "What are you doing out here anyway, Lissa? I thought you were going to pick flowers in the meadow."

"I was, but..." Lissa looked out at the river and at the otters that were still at play. "They were just too cute! I couldn't take my eyes off of them."

"Of course, that's why we found you sleeping with your eyes closed." Fredrick said simply.

"I was not sleeping...! Yet..." The otters swam up river and out of sight, playing all the way. "I can get pick some on the way to town anyway."

"I think not." Frederick said as he passed Lissa and crossed the bridge.

"Whaaaaaat? Why not" Lissa cried as she and Chrom followed behind Valiance. "If we stop then we will be far behind schedule, m'lady. I would not want to keep lady Emmeryn waiting."

"Oh, come on! Pleeeeeease?".

"No.".

"Pretty please?".

"No.".

"Awwwwww!".

"It's fine, Frederick. Emm can live without us for an extra few hours." Chrom interjected with another friendly smile and short chuckle as they came upon the meadow.

"With tensions being so high with Plegia right now, I simply wish to be safe, milord." Frederick replied as he guided Valiance back towards the path after she'd been distracted by noises coming from the woods.

"Hah! I pity any Plegian that attempts to harm Emm while Philia is around. She'll be fine Frederick." Chrom said as Lissa looked out at the flowers and saw something strange.

"Milord. I must-" Lissa interrupted Frederick with a gasp, "Guys, look!"

"Yes, yes. Flowers-" Lissa turned around and glared at Frederick, "I'm not talking about the flowers! There's someone out there and they don't look like they're moving!"

Voices echoed through his head, "Chrom!", "What have you done?", "Grima is eternal, my son.", "You cannot change that which has already been written!", none of it made any sense, they came and went too fast for him to piece them together, or to determine who said what. Memories flashed through his mind at a blinding speed, running from a castle with a woman, reading dozens of books in a library, a stranger meeting him in a field. It was all too chaotic.

He attempted to piece it together over and over again, but nothing came of it. Suddenly, he heard a voice that was far clearer than any he had heard before. It was the voice of a girl, or perhaps a young woman, "Chrom, we have to do something!" the voice sounded concerned.

"Why don't you use your staff?" A male voice seemed to reply.

"I don't know what's wrong with him! The most I could do it guess at what I should try and heal." the girl said as he felt someone's soft hands gently touch his face.

"Well. What do you propose we do?" Came another, deeper male voice.

As this his eyes began to open and he saw a blue haired man, and a golden haired girl kneeling above him with concern on their faces. They were looking at something behind the man, "I-I dunno." the girl said as she looked back at him. "Oh, hi there!" She said with a cheery smile when she saw that he was awake.

She stared down at the man on the ground quizzically as his eyes looked all around where he lay. He was a man who appeared to be in his early twenties with black hair that went down to just above his ears and deep brown eyes that seemed to be taking in everything around them. He wore a new looking purple coat over what seemed to be some iron armor that had lost some of its shine.

Chrom looked down at the man, "I see that you're awake now." and offered his hand to him, he accepted and Chrom pulled him to his feet, "There are better places to take a nap, friend."

As the man stood up they could all see that he was rather tall, eclipsing even Frederick by about half a foot. He stretched his arms and his purple coat was revealed to have strange symbols running along the sleeves that almost looked like eyes and his armor had several marks that appeared to be black smears down the front of it.

"Are you okay?" Lissa asked as she tilted her head and looked to see if any injuries had made themselves known.

"I'm sorry, what?" The man asked as he rubbed the back of his head and brushed dirt off of his coat.

"You weren't moving when we found you and you look like you've been in a fight, or something." Lissa replied cheerily but with a slight tone of confusion as she could not find any apparent wounds on the man.

"A fight..." The man pondered what had happened before he had ended up here, but nothing came to mind, all he remembered was walking down a road. "No. I don't think I was in a fight."

"How odd..." Frederick said doubtfully as he examined the man. He remembered seeing the symbol on his coat before, but he could not remember where.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Chrom asked as the man brushed off the last of the dirt.

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure, thanks for asking, Chrom." The man replied with a friendly grin as he brushed a stray strand of hair out of his eyes.

"Ah. You know who I am then. I take it that you are a citizen of the nearby town?" Chrom asked with as he shook the man's hand.

"I, um... No, actually. I don't think I'm from around here. I just knew your name somehow. Odd." The man replied as he brought his hand up to his chin and stroked it as he pondered what had happened.

"That... does sound pretty odd. What is your name? What brings you to such a quiet country side?" Chrom said with a cautious expression and tone.

"I-I don't... I don't know... I'm sorry. But where exactly am I?" The man replied as he scratched his head in bewilderment. _How did I forget my own name? Great job, me._

"You don't remember your own name?" Chrom replied, a dumbfounded look clearly written on his face.

"Oh, oh!" Lissa cut in, jumping up and down like a child, "I've heard of this! It's called amnesia!"

"Amnesia? That sounds quite farfetched to me. He can remember lord Chrom's name, but not his own? He cannot even remember where he is? It sounds more like a pile of pegasus dung." Frederick exclaimed as he stealthily unbuckled his sword's sheath.

The man, however caught the swift movement and his eyes widened in panic, "B-but I'm telling the truth!"

"You will need more than that to convince us, sir." Frederick replied, his eyes narrowing on the man as he looked for any weaknesses. He noticed that the man seemed to naturally adapt a cautious stance and that his hand occasionally went to his sides as if reaching for a weapon, though Frederick could not see a sword, or tome.

"I believe him." Lissa said, stepping next to the man and raising her hand up in the air as she did so.

"Truly, milady? Surely you can see how flawed this story he spins is." Frederick said turning away from the man and looking towards Chrom after he had discovered several ideal places to strike if the need should arise.

"What if it is true? We can't just leave him here without any idea where he is, or who he is. Shepards don't do that." Chrom said as he turned to give Frederick a scolding glare.

"The decision is yours, milord. But I would advise caution. 'Twould be unwise to allow a wolf among the flock." Frederick replied plainly.

"Duly noted, Frederick the Wary. We will take this man to the town with us and sort this all out there." Chrom looked at Frederick for a show of agreement, but he simply kept his usual stoic expression. Chrom could see him glance at the man with suspicion in his eyes as he continually kept his sword hand ready.

"Um... Am I to be your prisoner?" The man asked with a concerned expression on his face.

"Hee hee! We don't do that kind of thing." Lissa replied with a giggle and another friendly smile.

"Peace, friend. It will simply be easier to sort this out in town. Once we're done you'll be free to go." Chrom reassured the man with a simply smile.

"That sounds good... A town you say? Perhaps someone there has seen me before." The man replied with a simple smile as the four headed back to the road and towards the town.

* * *

As they continued along the path, Lissa had been asking the man all sorts of questions in an attempt to see what he still remembered, but all that they really learned is that he likes robins, stews, enjoys listening to a lute being played, and reading books.

"Oh. I'm Lissa, by the way. Sorry that I forgot to mention that earlier." She apologized with an embarrassed look on her face.

"It's fine. I haven't exactly told you my name either." The man replied with a hearty chuckle.

"Yeah… But that's different! Oh. The grumpy guy in armor is Frederick and his horse is Valiance!" Frederick looked back at the man and said, "It is nice to meet you, despite the strange circumstances." Valiance also looked back, but she simply stared at him and whined before looking ahead again.

"Are you sure you can't remember your name?" Lissa asked more out of boredom than out of need.

"Well... No. I don't think I do." The man replied as he stroked his chin again.

"You don't think so?" Lissa's curious expression mirrored the ones that both Chrom and Frederick had as well.

"I keep on thinking that I remember, but then it kind of slips away from me. It's really annoying." The man put his hands behind his head and looked up at the cloudless sky above.

"Oh... Hey, why don't I just keep on saying names and see if any of them click?" The man looked down at Lissa and her perpetually friendly smile. He thought about it for a moment. "Sure. It can't hurt, right?"

"Right! Now let's see. What do you look like...? Michael?" She asked with an energetically.

"No. I don't think that's it." The man replied.

"Perhaps it is Lucas?" Frederick suggested, his wish for the matter to be resolved evident by the tone of his voice.

"I... No. No it isn't that..." The man replied as he looked back up at the sky as if a cloud would suddenly appear and spell out the answer for him.

"How about, Alexander, the name seems to fit someone of your stature." Chrom stopped and waited for the answer.

Suddenly the man heard a far off voice echo the name, "Alexander!? Alexander!", over and over again.

The man snapped his fingers and laughed, "That's it! Alexander. That's my name!" his joy was catching and soon even Frederick found himself smiling.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Alexander." Chrom said as he gave a reassuring smile. "Did that jog anything else for you?"

Alexander thought for a moment, "No. But it's only a matter of time, right?" he said with a wide toothy smile.

"Hopefully. I'm just glad that you remembered your name at least. I was afraid you might never remember is." Lissa interjected with her usual joyful tone.

"Thanks for the help." Alexander's grinned as Lissa shook his hand.

"It is the duty of the Shepards to help those in need." Frederick said as he too shook Alexander's hand.

Alexander remembered that Chrom had said something about shepards before hand, but he was unsure what sheep herders had to do with anything. "Shepards?" Chrom turned towards Alexander, "We're a sort of vigilante group, but officially endorsed by Exalt Emmeryn. We travel around and deal with bandits and the like, or we go on diplomatic missions."

"What's an 'Exalt'?" Frederick laughed as his doubt returned yet again, "Ah. Still no memory of where you are I see." the undertone of skepticism was palpable. "The Exalt is the leader of the Halidom of Ylisse, this land. The current Exalt is lady Emmeryn."

"Ah. Interesting. And no need to try and hide the skepticism. I would feel the same in your position." Frederick simply nodded towards Alexander. "At least we understand each other."

"Oh my gosh! Look!" Lissa's scream snapped the attention of the three men towards the town, which was blazing with fire.

"Damn! The town must be under attack! We have to get over there!" Chrom said before sprinting down the road.

"Aptly put milord. Valiance! We ride!" Valiance reared up in agreement before Frederick mounted and unsheathed a sword.

"Wait, what about Alexander?" Lissa asked as the sound of screams were carried across the wind.

"I do not trust him enough to give him a weapon, he will stay here!" Frederick turned around and looked at Alexander. "Stay here. We will be back as soon as the attack has been repelled!" he pulled Lissa onto the back of Valiance and the two rode off after Chrom.

"But, I- And they're gone." Alexander said to himself. He stood there for a long time, just swinging his arms back and forwards, and whistling randomly before he noticed a large hill that seemed to over look the entire town. "Well... Maybe I can catch a good look at the battle from there."

* * *

"Remember boys, no survivors!" shouted the bandit leader as he looked over the burning town the top of town hall. "In fact, let's go crazy, no buildings left standing either!" His men cheered in agreement as they set fire to a general good store and a nearby house collapsed on itself from the fires.

"Hey, boss!" One of the bandits called up to the leader. "Want us to do anything with the bodies, or what?"

"Do we have any pikes?" The leader asked, a terrifying look of glee in his eyes.

"Uh... No. I don't think so, sir." The leader leaned against the roof, "Don't bother then, let whoever comes across 'em first deal with it!"

"Aye, aye, sir!" The sounds of screaming, battle and death could be heard from all across town. The fires blazed through every section of the town and most of the guard was either dead, or dying. "I love a good raid!" He shouted in glee as the general good store collapsed.

His joy was swiftly dashed however when he heard the sound of his men fleeing in terror below him. He looked and saw a blue haired man with a steel blade in his hands and the brand of the Exalt on his right arm. "We got a bloody royal at the east gate! Get him!"

Chrom cut at a bandit's stomach, killing the bandit. He feinting to his left to avoid a strike by another bandit and then kicked him into the river that flowed through the town. He had never seen this large of a bandit party. It almost looked like a full battalion of soldier had abandoned an army and unilaterally decided to become raider and murderers.

That or someone wants it to look like that. These men used weapons that seemed eerily similar to those carried by the troops of Plegia, a desert nation that whose king had become increasingly antagonistic toward Ylisse lately. Though he realized that they could have simple raided one of the border forts and gotten the weapons from there.

As he impaled another bandit on his blade he failed to notice that one had managed to get behind him and was readying his axe to split his head in two. Before he could do that, however, he heard what sounded the galloping of a horse and turned to see where it was coming from.

The last thing he saw was the armored war horse charge up to him and the swing of a large sword before falling backwards onto the ground, dead, with a gapping sword wound across his chest.

"Watch your flank, milord." Frederick said as he rode up next to Chrom and let Lissa down from the horse. "There has to be dozens, if not hundreds of them, Fredrick! How did so many men get so far inside the border without being seen?" Chrom said as he cleaved a bandit's arm off and kicked him into the river.

"I haven't the slightest idea, milord. We must simply focus on helping the townsfolk!" Lissa looked around and saw all the dead bodies and felt her stomach churn. "All these people!" Tears welled in her eyes. She turned to see the bandit whose stomach Chrom had cut open lying on the ground in a pool of blood and guts. "I-I feel like I'm gonna barf!"

"Stay with us Lissa. I took a hit a minute ago and I need it healed." Lissa looked over at Chrom and saw a gash across his thigh. It wasn't anything serious at the moment, but could develop into a terrible infection if she didn't heal it. "Oh my gosh, Chrom! Why do you always have to rush ahead of us?" She said as she pointed her staff at the wound and watched it knit itself back together.

"I'm sorry. I just wanted to keep these guys from hurting anymore people." Lissa simply sighed and looked up to avoid seeing the bodies. "We should see about gathering what's left of the guard, m'lord. They may prove useful in repelling the attack."

"Agreed. You can search for them the fastest; go through the eastern side of town that should be where the barracks is. I'm going to see if Sully and Virion are in town, yet." Chrom said before speeding off towards the western side of town. "Stay here, milady. If any guards return from a patrol then tell them to secure this market!" Frederick began riding off towards the eastern side of town.

"Wait! What am I supposed to do to keep the bandits from finding me?" Lissa cried.

Frederick turned around with a look of surprise as if he had forgotten that Lissa couldn't fight on her own. "I thought that Stahl was with us for some reason."

"I'll go with you then." Frederick frowned at the suggestion. "I will most likely be forced to dismount and fight my way through the town on foot, milady. I would not wish to subject you to that kind of fighting." His look of concern was not unfounded. Lissa had a habit of fainting, or becoming sick at the sight of a dead body, he was afraid that wading through intense battle might harm her psychologically. "I shall stay here until prince Chrom returns."

"No! You have to go get those guardsmen! If you don't then we might lose way more towns people!" Lissa shouted over the sound of another building collapsing. "I'll find some place to hide. Like near the gates." Frederick moved to argue but Lissa had the look that she always had when she wouldn't budge. Her nose narrows, she crosses her arms and glares at people in a way that could stop a heart in fear if she wasn't so tiny.

Frederick sighed in defeat, grabbed a spear from Valiance's side and gave Lissa his sword. "Hide. But if they find you and you cannot run, use this to bar a door and give yourself some more time." She took the sword and nearly tumbled over at the weight of it all. It was a sword meant for a cavalry charge, not on foot. The comical sight of her struggling to keep balance prompted Frederick to take the blade and give her one of Chrom's spare swords. it was far lighter and shorter in length.

Lissa held the new blade with relative ease despite it still feeling heavy to her. "Be safe, milady." Frederick rode off as fast as possible towards where Chrom had ordered him. "You too, Fredrick."

* * *

Alexander had finally reached the top of the hill. He could see the fire that had engulfed the town and several small skirmishes raging in it's streets. He could see the bodies of townsfolk and bandit a like lining the market area. "Their slaughtering everyone they come across. Savages."

He stopped at a point of the hill that went into a steep decline that led dirctly into the flowers by the market area. From here he could see Chrom cut through bandits, he saw Frederick save him at the last minute, Lissa healing the wound on his thigh, it was as if they all had done this a hundred times before. He wondered what it was like to know people so well as to rush fearlessly into battle with them. Even Lissa, who he could see was about to throw up, was relatively calm. Focused on the goal of helping the people in the town and keeping everyne alive. There was a certain appeal to it all.

He saw Frederick give Lissa a sword, and then after she nearly fell over, he saw him take it and give a smaller one before riding off towards the eastern part of town. He could see lissa looking around nervously before diving into some of the flower bushes and hiding there. She propped her staff and the sword up againt the hill and sat down, constantly checking the market place.

She eventually looked up at the hill and noticed Alexander. She waved and he waved back. He made motions to her that were supposed to ask where Chrom went, but from the look on her face it wasn't coming through that way.

Before he could try again, a group of bandits charged into the market place, chasing after a small group of seven townsfolk. "Where are ya going sheepies? We ain't gonna hurt you too much!" He could hear one of the bandits yell. He looked like the some sort of leader, perhaps of the entire band. They chased the townsfolk across the market place and straight into another group of bandts. The townsfolk back away from both groups of bandits, begging for their lives, and asking them not to hurt them. On man tries to run away but it shot by a mage in the second group of bandits.

"Now what're we gonna do with the rest of ya?" The leader shouted, causing the the women from the town to start crying out of fear. "Oh. I wasn't gonna do nothing like that, ladies. But now that you bring it up. I don't see why I shouldn't!" As he moved towards one of the women Alexander tried to find a fast way down. Before he could however a large wooden staff was flung through the air and hit the leader of the first group right in between the eyes.

"GRAAGH!" The leader stumbled backwards in pain as the other bandits laughed at his misfortune. "Who the hell did that?! Huh?" He looked around with a murderous glare in his eyes and saw the sword leaning up against the hill, and then Lissa's golden hair poking out of the bush.

He quickly dashed over, reached his hand through the bush and dragged Lissa back towards the two groups of bandits. "Looks like we have a little do gooder of a sheep, boys!" The other bandits threw insults at Lissa as Alexander tried to find a way down. "You know what we do to these do gooder types, don't we boys?" The other bandits began to chant "Give her the axe!" increasingly louder as the leader took in the spectacle of it all.

Alexander's eyes widened in surprise when he saw the leader grab a large woodsman's axe and turn toward Lissa with a twisted grin on his face. He decided that he needed to act fast. But he couldn't find any way down from the hill. He was about to shout down to the bandits to try and distract them, but then he realized that he might be able to slide down the hill and surprise the bandits for long enough to get a weapon.

He saw the leader raise the axe up and knew that he didn't have any more time left, he quickly jumped off the edge and began sliding down the slope at such a speed that his hair was being blown back by the amount of wind. As he reached the bottom he saw that the mage was standing obliviously in front of him, laughing like the savage he was.

He kicked off the slope and shouted, "Heads up!" at the top of his lungs. This drew the attention of both groups of bandits, the townsfolk, and Lissa. The mage was the last to turn to look and by that time it was too late. Alexander landed a devastating kick to his jaw sending him flying into several other bandits and to drop his thunder bolt tome.

Alexander quickly picked up the tome and when he opened it he felt a strange sense of familiarity, like he had used one of these tomes for his entire life. He dashed in front of Lissa and the townsfolk, putting himself between them and the leader. "Well, well, well. Look at what we got here. Another do gooder. You want to die too, Sheepy?" Alexander quickly opened the tome and a page began to glow a bright yellow, before the leader could react, the page dissolved into the air and formed into a thunder bolt that struck the leader in the chest, knocking him through his men and flat onto his back.

"I don't want to kill any of you! Surrender now and you can live another day!" Alexander meant what he said, though he had lost his memory something told him that he could easily defeat these bandits, but the thought of killing someone did not set well in his mind. The bandits simply laughed at his words before the leader sat up and angrily pointed at him. "Kill the sheep!" Before Alexander could even blink three bandits were charging towards him, he quickly launched two more bolts, killing one bandit and injuring another before he evaded the blade of the third.

He launched another bolt directly into the head of the third bandit, killing him instantly. Two more bandits charged him and closed the distance so fast that he couldn't get off another bolt off and found himself perpetually back peddling to avoid the strikes of the bandits. He had just dodged one attack that sent one bandit barreling past him as the other lifted his sword above his head and swung is full force as Alexander's head.

He couldn't dodge it so he took the risk and raised his hand up and caught the hands of the bandit. Even though he stopped the strike the bandit was still pushing the sword down towards him ever so slowly. It was all he could do to use both hands to slow the descent of the blade.

At the same time he saw the other bandit pull back around and begin charging at him again. His eyes widened in terror. He could do nothing to evade the attack without risk of the other bandit landing a hit on him. As he tried to think of something he heard Lissa shout, "Alexander! Take this!" he turned to see the sword that Lissa had leaned up against the hill flying through the air towards him.

He looked back at the two bandits, the blade of the one in front of him was getting dangerously close to his head and the one on his side was almost upon him. He had to time this perfectly if he wanted to survive. Just as the bandit on his side was about to swing he used all of his strength to hold the blade of the other in place long enough for him to feint to his side, bring his hands around, and use his new control of the bandits arms to swing the blade into the face of the other bandit. Killing the other bandit and giving him enough time to back hand the other.

He looked up and grabbed the sword out of the air just as it went over his head. Again the weapon felt familiar, the hilt fit almost perfectly into the palm of his hand. The other bandits simply stood in astonishment at what they had just seen, giving him enough time to level his sword towards them and reopen his tome. "Okay. Perhaps we can come to a compromise now." The bandits looked at him in anger and disgust. "Okay. No compromises then. Good to know."

Four bandits charged, quickly he saw that one had a chink in his chest piece and fired a bolt directly at it killing the bandit and sending him backwards into one of his comrades. The other two closed the distance too fast for him to fire another bolt. He deflected one attack to the side and broke through the other to kill another bandit.

The one he deflected to the side attacked again, cutting a deep gash across his arm, but the second time he attacked they crossed swords and neither could gain the advantage. The bandit who had been knocked down before had gotten back up and was charging at him again. Noticing this, he aimed his tome and shot two bolts, one hit the right leg and the other hit the head. The bandit fell down lifeless and he brought around the tome and fired three bolts into the chest of the other bandit.

Things continued like that for several minutes, bandits would attack, Alexander would hold them off. But as he kept fighting he found himself instinctively looking for weaknesses on enemies, immediately searching common spots on armor where plating tended to be easier to break through, looking for the exact spot to strike at the disorganized group of bandits. It was almost as if he had been trained in searching out weaknesses and exploiting them for the upper hand in battle.

Though, of course, he made mistakes. And throughout the fighting he had sustained several cuts, scratches, and wounds that had begun to take their toll by the time only three of the bandits remained.

He looked up from his last kill to see the leader laughing at him, "Thanks for weeding out the extra weight, Sheepy. You saved me the trouble of dividing up more of the loot!" He cackled like a crazy person, and rested his axe against his shoulder. "Now, if you would kindly just keel over so I don't have to waste my energy on you."

Alexander wiped blood from his forehead. "Afraid you'll... you'll... L-lose?" he said through labored breathes. He had suffered three direct hits, one on his right arm, one on his left shoulder, and the last on his leg was from the bandit he had just struck down.

The leader laughed, "Only a dead fish could lose to you right now, Sheep!" Alexander straightened his stance and attempted to give a smug grin of confidence, but he found that he lacked the strength to even do something as simple as that.

He looked over to where Lissa had been standing; she had disappeared during the fighting as did the townsfolk. He had seen them sneaking behind a building, so he knew that she was okay. He looked the leader straight in the eyes, "How about we... we see how well... you, uh... do agains- against me! And then you can... can see how sound that theory is!"

The leader gave a disgusted frown, and pointed directly at Alexander. "Kill this sheep and I'll give both of you the combined loot of everyone he killed!" The eyes of the two bandits on either side of him gleamed with greed; they looked at each other and nodded in agreement before slowly moving towards him. These two had been smart enough to not to charge in immediately and had just watched the battle. They had grabbed makeshift wooden shields to protect themselves from both the thunder bolts and the sword.

They didn't seem to catch onto the fact that he was exploiting more subtle weaknesses, though, so the first of the two left his obviously injured leg rather exposed and the second didn't seem to notice that the barrel lid he had grabbed for his shield was rotting away. Even with this, Alexander knew that it would be tough to take either of them with all of his injuries. He couldn't even force enough energy to raise up his tome hand, so he had dropped it the tome and had been fighting in an admittedly sloppy dueling stance with his sword for the past couple of minutes.

Even the sword was in poor condition, it's bronze blade had become bent from a particularly vicious blow, and the leather hilt seemed to be slowly falling apart in front of his eyes.

As the first bandit began to charge towards him with his sword held high and ready to strike Alexander raised his sword to deflect the attack. But then something happened. As the bandit had nearly closed the distance he screamed out in pain and fell dead at the feet of Alexander. Alexander was bewildered at what had just happened until he noticed the arrow sticking out of the bandit's back.

"Ah. It is nice to see that bandits are just as oblivious here as in Valm!" Came a pompous sounding foreign voice. Alexander and the bandits looked around confused until the second bandit fell and the voice called out, "Up here you low bred dunderhead!"

They turned to see a silver haired man standing on top of an untouched building on the other side of the market place wielding a bow. It was hard to tell from the distance, but they could se that he wore a what appeared to be a puffy tunic below some exquisite archer armor. "Who are you and who are you calling a low bred dunder head you fop!?"

"Virion of Valm! The Archest of Archers at your service! And it is dunderhead, my dear brigand, not dunder and then head." The man's voice was deep, booming, and well spoken, it exuded a smug overconfidence that angered the bandit leader into throwing his axe towards the man, though is only went a few feet before falling to the ground.

"Why don't you come down here and fight me like a real- Grrk" The bandit was stopped by an arrow that had been lodged in his chest. He stared at it in disbelief, his eye wide in confusion, before falling over dead. "I'm sorry, my friend. Could you speak up? I seem to have loosed and arrow by accident." Alexander stared at the bandit's body in relief for a brief second before he fell onto his back in exhaustion and pain.

He could hear the archer climbing down from the building and heading over to him. The man stood over him with a victorious grin. "Greetings, my friend, I take it that you are the one that Lissa sent me ahead to help?" Alexander stared at him for a moment, he had grey eyes and the tunic he wore beneath his armor seemed to be green and puffy as had seen before, but it also had a handkerchief sticking out of the top.

"Yeah." Alexander said exasperatedly. "That would be... be... me." His head fell backwards against the ground and the grey haired man could tell that he had passed out, but if his wounds weren't treated soon that he would die. The man pulled a flask of liquid from his belt. With a sigh, he uncorked it, opened Alexander's mouth, and poured it into his mouth.

Alexander woke up, spitting and coughing at the taste of the and sputtering random words before looking at the grey haired man in annoyance, "What the did you just pour in my mouth?" The grey haired man stood and laughed. "It is a vulnerary, dear comrade!"

"That doesn't even begin to answer my question!" Alexander sputtered as he jumped to his feet and glared at the man. "The fact that you are standing upright with no difficulty should be explanation enough!"

Alexander looked down at his wounds, they were still there and they still hurt, but they didn't seem to drain him of energy as before. "A vulnerary gives you your strength back and slightly heals wounds, but they taste something awful. I would honestly recommend a concoction of some sort, but they are terribly expensive." Alexander simply looked at the man in astonishment, and then he remembered his name.

"You said that your name is Virion?" He could hear the sound of Lissa yelling at someone to hurry up. "Yes. The archest of archers! The envy of all men! The lord of-" Alexander held up his hand apologetically. "Okay, okay. I get it. Thank you for the help."

It was then that the two saw Lissa, Chrom, and a red haired woman on horseback turn a corner and head towards them. As Lissa got close to them, she gasped at the injuries Alexander had. "Oh. My. Gosh! You need to sit down, right now!" Alexander complied and sat down on a nearby bench as Lissa went to work on him. "How were you even standing?" Alexander let his head head backwards as he felt a sudden feeling of exhaustion again. "Virion gave me something. Uh, what was it? Valnerery?"

"I supplied him with a vulnerary, my dear lady. It restored the strength to his limbs in a matter of moments!" Lissa turned around and nodded towards Virion gratefully before turning back to Alexander.

"I take it that you had a part to play in all the dead bandits?" Chrom asked as he and the red haired woman searched for any surviving townsfolk. "I doubt it." said the red haired woman as she checked the bodies of the bandits. "These guys either got a sword to the gut, a thunder bolt to the face, or both at the same time." she kicked the leader over and scoffed at the sight. "I guess he got this one, though."

"It is true, dear Sully. I had very little to do with this grand battle until the end. I saw this brave man single handedly take on over eleven of these marauders as I setup. It was quite the impressive display if I do say so myself. But the battle would have been lost without my grand contribution." Chrom looked over at Alexander and saw the number of wounds he had taken. Lissa had told him that Alexander stopped the bandits from executing her and the rest of the townsfolk. He found himself rather impressed.

End of CH2


	3. Chapter 3

CH3: An Auspicious Offer.

(Hey there, has anyone read that "Morgan's Unique Parent Supports" fic? It's a fun read. Anyway. I've had this one completed since I posted the last one, I just forgot to post it. On with the show.)

Two days had passed since the attack on the town. Luckily for the town itself they had lost far fewer people than they had originally thought. Many people had managed to flee the town once the shepards began fighting the bandits and most had returned over the previous two days. Frederick led the town guard in wiping out the rest of the bandits in the town and in the country side. And Chrom and Lissa had helped the townsfolk to start rebuilding.

Alexander had not been as lucky. It turned out that the vulnerary that Virion gave him was nearly a year old and only returned temporarily restored his strength. He slumped over on his bench half way through Lissa healing him and the shepards had to transport him to the town's inn for Lissa to finish healing him. He had been out ever since then and had only recently woken up.

Upon leaving his room he ran into the last member of the shepards in the area, Sully, a knight and childhood friend to Chrom. Alexander made the poor choice to joke about a woman guarding him while he slept, which earned him a swift punch to the gut and a full day of training with Sully. He returned to the inn with his entire body stiff.

In the lobby of the inn he saw Chrom talking to the inn keeper. "We will be leaving tomorrow morning. Thank you for letting us stay here, I will send payment once we have returned to the capital." The inn keeper simply smiled and shook his head. "If it wasn't for you shepards I wouldn't even be alive. Keep the money, sir. And have a safe trip back to the Exalt."

Chrom nodded thankfully and turned to go to his room before noticing Alexander and walking over to him. "Alexander! I've been looking all over for you!"

"You have?" Chrom smiled and patted him on the shoulder, which caused a grimace to appear on his face. "I went to see if you were awake, but you weren't there. Virion said that Sully took you somewhere?" Alexander stretched and the load sound of his shoulder bone popping rang throughout the lobby.

Chrom stared at him in bewilderment. "Don't make an off color joke when Sully is around..." Chrom's stare broke into a look of amusement and a laugh before putting his arm around Alexander's shoulders. "I probably should have tried to warn you about that, sorry."

He led him upstairs to a room where Frederick and Virion were playing a game of poker against each other. Virion looked over at Alexander and gave a welcoming smile, "Ah. The courageous warrior has returned from his greatest test. A day of training with Sully! Truly a harrowing feat, not even our esteemed Frederick has managed to endure the entire process." He gave Frederick a knowing smile.

Frederick gave a look of disgust before nodding towards Alexander, "It is good to see you up and walking. Very few manage to after training with Sully." and looked back down at his cards. "Thanks. I hear that all of the bandits have been dealt with." Alexander said as he looked around the room. I was a bedroom with a bed meant for one, but had enough room for a table that could sit four. The room's size made it look almost empty despite an average amount of furniture for one person. Alexander guessed that it had originally been meant for something else, but was converted to a room for the patrons.

"Yes. Thanks to the lovely Sully and our good man, Frederick, the guardsmen were able to track all of them down and remove them." Virion discarded two cards and drew two more before continuing. "But it is only thanks to you that our lovely Miss Lissa still lives."

"I wanted to thank you for that." Chrom said as he and Alexander sat down to watch the game. "I should have thought about the fact that she can't fight, but I was just so focused on the townsfolk and... Just. Thank you." The smile on his face was so honest it almost hurt to see.

"I was just doing what anyone should do in the situation." Chrom passed a canteen of water to Alexander and he accepted happily. "Ah, yes, just doing what anyone should do, such as destroying over eleven bandits? Dear, Alexander, you must learn to accept praise. Oh. And I have straight crowns, Frederick." Virion leaned back in his chair in victory as Frederick put his cards back into the deck, reshuffled and dealt another hand. "May I suggest best out of three?" Virion grinned and dealt the cards.

"I didn't take down eleven of them. Did I?" Chrom took a drink from the canteen as Virion looked at his cards. "You dispatched twelve, actually. Possibly thirteen, Virion claims that one keeled over out of fear." Frederick replied as he removed two cards and took two more.

Virion grinned mischievously before looking to Alexander. "I swear it upon the name of Naga. He simply fell over. It was quite comical." Virion went back to smirking at Frederick who seemed to be staring intensely at Virion for any sign of what he was planning.

Chrom looked away from the game, and handed the canteen back to Alexander. "Anyway, I wanted to ask you something, but that can wait for a while. Have you remembered anything? Any new memories?"

Alexander thought for a minute, and then shook his head. "Nothing particularly enlightening, unfortunately, I think I was a trained fighter though. I could use the sword and tome as easily as I can breathe. I think I may have also been a tactician of some sort." Frederick's attention completely shifted from the game to Alexander. "A tactician you say? How interesting." A hint of suspicion crept into his voice.

"A tactician, yes." Said Alexander, too engrossed in thought to notice Frederick's suspicion. "When I was fighting the bandits, I could pinpoint weaknesses in armor, formation, fighting technique. It was as easy as reading a children's book." He began unconsciously stroking his chin.

"I can attest to this! As I was climbing the building I could see him using the brigand's numbers against them. Pushing some into the way of others to gain some time, moving to locations where the dunderheads had to push past each other to attack. It was like watching a master pianist skillfully playing an organ."

"It was that easy for you? That's impressive. It sounds like you might be able to give some of the tacticians in the capital a challenge." Chrom said as Virion put in yet another hand of straight crowns and Frederick leaned back in his chair in exasperation. "I was mostly acting on instinct, and I suspect it was more because they were very much disorganized. I'm sure the shepard's tactician would agree."

"We don't have an official tactician, actually." Chrom leaned back in his chair and glanced outside at the setting sun before looking back to Alexander. "That's part of what I wanted to ask you. Would you like to join the shepards?"

"Join the- you mean me?" Alexander stared in confusion at Chrom. "I know it's sort of odd, considering we barely know each other, but we can always use new members, and the fact that you're a tactician is even more helpful."

Alexander could feel the stares of Virion and Frederick planted straight on him. A strange feeling of anxiety washed over him. "...What would it entail? Outside of fighting and strategizing, I mean." Chrom stood up and cleared his throat. "Well. We travel a lot. This is about as close to the capital as we tend to get when we're on the move. As I've said before we go on diplomatic missions, though you wouldn't have to actually participate in those if you don't want to. Um... Frederick, am I forgetting anything?"

"A responsibility to uphold a strict moral code for the good of Ylisee and it's people. Also, daily training, and duties around camp such as cleaning up and cooking." Alexander glanced at Frederick for a moment. He still had a look of skepticism on his face. "You don't have to join if you don't want to. I already spoke to the inn keeper and he would be happy to let you stay here for free for the next month. That would be more than enough time to find someone willing to employ you." Alexander looked up at Chrom, a friendly smile reinforcing what he said before.

He stood up and took a deep breath, though it did little to remove the anxious feeling he had. "I'll think about it." Chrom's smile faltered a little, but still stayed firm. "That's all I ask. We're leaving before dawn tomorrow. Meet us at the northern gate if you decide to come." Chrom extended his hand to Alexander and they shook.

"I will, but I think I'm a little too tired from my day with Sully to decide anything right now. I'm going to go back to my room. Have a good night." Alexander said as he left the room, closing the door behind him. "Do you think he will come with us?" Virion waited until Alexander's footsteps were well down the hallway. "I don't know. But I'm hoping so. At the very least I want to be able to thank him for saving Lissa again before we leave."

As Alexander walked down the hallway to his room he thought about Chrom's offer. It was tempting. There was no doubting that. After all, what real reason did he have for staying? He had no connection to this town or its people. He had no home here, he had no one to call friend here. But something was nagging at him. An elusive feeling that told him that something bad would happen if he joined the shepards. It told him to stay put and find a quiet life.

Before he could stew any longer on the feeling, he ran into Lissa as she was opening a door. "Oh!" She closed the door and skipped up to him. "Hey there! Good to see you're up and at 'em." Her cheery smile and demeanor were contagious and soon he found himself with a similar smile. "It's all thanks to you. I probably wouldn't have survived those wounds if it wasn't for you."

Lissa blushed in embarrassment as she look down at her shoes. "You wouldn't have even gotten hurt if it wasn't for me being stupid and throwing my staff at that bandit." She didn't seem capable of keeping eye contact with Alexander now, her guilt made it too difficult.

They stood in an awkward silence for a few moments as Alexander thought about what to say. He thought to himself about what she said. It was true that she played a part in why he slid down the hill, but he was already looking for a way down before that."I would have fought those bandits anyway, Lissa."

She looked up at him quizzically. "You mean you would have charged down there with nothing but your bare fists just to help a bunch of people you didn't know, without a second thought?" Her eyes flickered between Alexander and the floor now. She seemed confused as to whether she was able to look at him now or not."Of course, I may not be Ylissean, but that doesn't mean I was about to let innocent people be killed."

It struck the both of them that he had said that he wasn't Ylissean. Lissa stared at him quizzically again as he tried to figure out why he said that. He had no memory of where he was from, but yet he somehow knew that it wasn't Ylisse. He simply shrugged and sighed. Lissa gave a giggle.

"That's a pretty amazing thing, you know that? The only person I know who would do that is Chrom. I wish I could be that brave." She sighed and kicked some dust that had accumulated on the floor. Alexander thought back to the look she had on her face when she threw the staff at the bandit leader. He hasn't noticed at the time, but she looked focused and like she was formulating some plan, and had thrown the staff simply to help the townsfolk live long enough for her to implement it.

"What do you call throwing the staff at the bandit, then?" He asked with a friendly smile."Stupid?" She asked, finally able to bring herself to look him in the eye. "I'd say it's one of the bravest things I've ever seen. I mean, Chrom and I, we have training, strength and height on our side, but you? You're small, only know how to use a staff, and not very strong. But you still put your life on the line to try and help those people. That's bravery to me." Lissa stared quizzically for a few moments before her smile returned. "I never really thought about it that way. Thanks for saying all of that."

"No need to thank me for saying the truth." They both shared a small laugh, but soon found themselves staring at each other for some reason. Alexander realized that her eyes seemed to reflect the light from the setting sun and had an alluring twinkle to them, her small stature and young features gave a feeling of beauty to her. Lissa was busy admiring his stature and sharp features, and soft brown eyes.

She realized that his eyes never seemed to lack kindness, even when he fought the bandits he didn't look angry, or like he was enjoying it. He almost looked sad in a way. Everyone else she knew that fought always seemed to lose all emotion when a fight started, like they were trying to shield themselves from what they were doing.

They continued to stare at each other for a while before loud "BOO!" came from behind Alexander, causing both him and Lissa to scream in terror. They turned to see Sully standing there with a smug grin. "So, when's the honey moon?"

"Not funny, Sully!" Lissa yelled as she blushed furiously. "Not my fault you two were lost in each other's eyes, or some mushy crap like that! Maybe leave that stuff in the bedroom next time?" Sully's grin only widened with the last comment.

"GAH!" Lissa quickly opened her door went inside her room and slammed the door behind her. "That wasn't what is looked like." Alexander said looking to Sully with a disapproving glare. "Oh. I know. I just felt like I needed to give you another kick in the ass before the day was over."

"Considered it well and truly kicked." Alexander frowned at her. "She'll forget about it by tomorrow." Sully said, ignoring the frown and yawning loudly, "Well. I'm gonna hit the sack. See you tomorrow if you decide to come with us." With that she disappeared into her room and Alexander was left alone.

He was about to go back to his room before Sully's door opened back up, "Oh. Good job on the training today. You even outlasted this other guy in the shepards, called Vaike, he's a pain in the ass, but he's the only other person I know that can last more than three hours with my training regimen." She closed her door again and Alexander was once again left alone in the hallway.

As he walked back to his room, he noted that it had been an odd couple of days. First he woke up in a field with amnesia, proceeded to kill thirteen bandits by himself, get knocked out for two days, managed to tick off a hot tempered, red haired, female knight, was offered to become the chief tactician to a vigilante group and had a potentially intimate moment with a girl he met only days before. By the time he got to his room all he wanted to do was fall asleep. And fall asleep he did.

As he drifted into his rest he heard a faint voice echo through his thoughts. It was so faint that it was impossible to make out most of what it was saying; the only thing he could understand was one word. "Grima."

End of CH3.


	4. Chapter interlude: Author's Ramblings

Author's ramblings:

Hail and well met, readers! I just wanted to give and update on the story. As it stands, chapter 4 is almost here. I just need to pull together some extra time for some proofreading and to rewrite a specific part of it. So, rejoice, i guess, that my latest mutilated monstrosity of writing is coming your way.

I mostly just want to let you guys know that I have decided to do the entirety of the game's story in this retelling, so I've been doing some major pre-planning for who will die, what characters will be important, who will marry who and what future children will show up. I'm still planning it all out, so the chapters will be coming out at about the same pace that they have, but once it's all planned out you can probably expect about 1 chapter every 8 days, or so.

But since i know that some people don't like waiting for stuff without something to tide the over, I'm gonna do Support Log Chapters starting after chapter 4 to bridge the gap a little bit. These chapters will go over about two are three logs every three or so chapters, and they won't just be carbon copies of the game logs, they will have some changes depending on the story line events and some will be completely new. Anyway. Have a nice day.


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